Nails Across America seeks to connect with a broad audience through the act of performing manicures.

This experiential project is about more than simply Nail Art. By transforming a 1968 Shasta Compact camper into a mobile salon, Breanne aims to create an intimate platform to exchange ideas and conversation. She has traveled over 12,000 miles with Nails Across America and launched the cross-country tour in 2013 at Mixed Greens in NYC.

In preparation for Nails Across America, Breanne attended and graduated from a nail trade school program to become a NY-state licensed nail technician.

What is Nails Across America?

001: NYC

002: NYC to Elyria, OH

003: Elyria, OH

Coming Soon

Coming Soon

Coming Soon

Coming Soon

This is for everyone.

The ideal audience for Nails Across America spans a broad range of ages, and economic, political, and social demographics. Building an archive of participants as diverse as possible is essential to the project's success: young, old, blue collar, white collar, mechanics, gallerists, and farmers alike. With in-kind donations and fundraising, so far I have been able to give all of the manicures for FREE.

A Living Edition: the goal of the project is to "edition" 500 sets of nails. Each participant receives a signed and numbered (1/500, 2/500, 3/500 and so on) letter-pressed certificate of authenticity, commemorating their participation in the edition. Thus, they become linked to the project archive. YOU are the art, not just the paintings on your nails!

The curated menu references recurring themes in Breanne's art such as popular culture, junk food, and art history. Manicure flavors include Cheeto Orange and International Klein Blue, which also pays homage to the television program Friday Night Lights. Nail art designs are inspired by Richard Diebenkorn, Yayoi Kusama, donut sprinkles, #2 pencils, pretzels, pizza, and more.

The act of receiving and giving a manicure is intimate by its nature. The physical contact is constant, from the filing of the nail's free edge to the hand and arm massage. The often silent disconnect between the nail technician and client is the impetus for Nails Across America. The mobile salon seeks participants (YOU!) to create a shared and meaningful experience through the act of performing manicures.

In June 2012, Breanne graduated from a 16-week nail trade school program at TW Nail Technology in Peekskill, NY. The training covered topics such as nail diseases and disorders, anatomy and physiology, bacteriology, disinfection and sanitation. As of March 2013, Breanne passed both written and practical state board exams and is a duly licensed nail technician in NY State.

About Breanne

Breanne Trammell is an artist living and working in Wassaic, NY, where she is a core member of the Wassaic Project. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally, including Mixed Greens Gallery, P.P.O.W. Gallery, Susan Inglett Gallery, the New Museum of Contemporary Art Store, and MASS MoCA. She received her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2008, is a Lecturer in Art+Design at SUNY Purchase, and has been a faculty member at Ramapo College of NJ since 2009.